The Worlds of Farscape Read online

  CRITICAL EXPLORATIONS IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

  (a series edited by Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III)

  1 Worlds Apart? Dualism and Transgression in Contemporary Female Dystopias (Dunja M. Mohr, 2005)

  2 Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language (ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2007)

  3 Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star Wars Films: Essays on the Two Trilogies (ed. Carl Silvio, Tony M. Vinci, 2007)

  4 The Influence of Star Trek on Television, Film and Culture (ed. Lincoln Geraghty, 2008)

  5 Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction (Gary Westfahl, 2007)

  6 One Earth, One People: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L’Engle and Orson Scott Card (Marek Oziewicz, 2008)

  7 The Evolution of Tolkien’s Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-earth (Elizabeth A. Whittingham, 2008)

  8 H. Beam Piper: A Biography (John F. Carr, 2008)

  9 Dreams and Nightmares: Science and Technology in Myth and Fiction (Mordecai Roshwald, 2008)

  10 Lilith in a New Light: Essays on the George MacDonald Fantasy Novel (ed. Lucas H. Harriman, 2008)

  11 Feminist Narrative and the Supernatural: The Function of Fantastic Devices in Seven Recent Novels (Katherine J. Weese, 2008)

  12 The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: Collected Essays on SF Storytelling and the Gnostic Imagination (Frank McConnell, ed. Gary Westfahl, 2009)

  13 Kim Stanley Robinson Maps the Unimaginable: Critical Essays (ed. William J. Burling, 2009)

  14 The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction (Farah Mendlesohn, 2009)

  15 Science Fiction from Québec: A Postcolonial Study (Amy J. Ransom, 2009)

  16 Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Essays on Bridging the Gap Between the Sciences and the Humanities (ed. Gary Westfahl, George Slusser, 2009)

  17 Stephen R. Donaldson and the Modern Epic Vision: A Critical Study of the “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” Novels (Christine Barkley, 2009)

  18 Ursula K. Le Guin’s Journey to Post-Feminism (Amy M. Clarke, 2010)

  19 Portals of Power: Magical Agency and Transformation in Literary Fantasy (Lori M. Campbell, 2010)

  20 The Animal Fable in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Bruce Shaw, 2010)

  21 Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality in the BBC Series (ed. Andrew Ireland, 2010)

  22 Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays on the Interplay of Media, Disciplines and International Perspectives (ed. Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke, Gideon Haberkorn, 2010)

  23 The Anatomy of Utopia: Narration, Estrangement and Ambiguity in More, Wells, Huxley and Clarke (Károly Pintér, 2010)

  24 The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction: Stepchildren of Voltaire (Bradford Lyau, 2010)

  25 The Twilight Mystique: Critical Essays on the Novels and Films (ed. Amy M. Clarke, Marijane Osborn, 2010)

  26 The Mythic Fantasy of Robert Holdstock: Critical Essays on the Fiction (ed. Donald E. Morse, Kálmán Matolcsy, 2011)

  27 Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight and Fallacy (ed. Gary Westfahl, Wong Kin Yuen, Amy Kit-sze Chan, 2011)

  28 Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film: A Critical Study (Roslyn Weaver, 2011)

  29 British Science Fiction Film and Television: Critical Essays (ed. Tobias Hochscherf, James Leggott, 2011)

  30 Cult Telefantasy Series: A Critical Analysis of The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Heroes, Doctor Who and Star Trek (Sue Short, 2011)

  31 The Postnational Fantasy: Essays on Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitics and Science Fiction (ed. Masood Ashraf Raja, Jason W. Ellis and Swaralipi Nandi, 2011)

  32 Heinlein’s Juvenile Novels: A Cultural Dictionary (C.W. Sullivan III, 2011)

  33 Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture: Essays on Adaptations in Literature, Film, Television and Digital Media (ed. Audrey L. Becker and Kristin Noone, 2011)

  34 I See You: The Shifting Paradigms of James Cameron’sAvatar (Ellen Grabiner, 2012)

  35 Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy (ed. Mary F. Pharr and Leisa A. Clark, 2012)

  36 The Sex Is Out of This World: Essays on the Carnal Side of Science Fiction (ed. Sherry Ginn and Michael G. Cornelius, 2012)

  37 Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays on a Modern Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy (ed. Janet Brennan Croft, 2013)

  38 Girls Transforming: Invisibility and Age-Shifting in Children’s Fantasy Fiction Since the 1970s (Sanna Lehtonen, 2013)

  39 Doctor Who in Time and Space: Essays on Themes, Characters, History and Fandom, 1963–2012 (ed. Gillian I. Leitch, 2013)

  40 The Worlds of Farscape: Essays on the Groundbreaking Television Series (ed. Sherry Ginn, 2013)

  The Worlds of Farscape

  Essays on the Groundbreaking Television Series

  Edited by Sherry Ginn

  CRITICAL EXPLORATIONS IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, 40

  Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III, series editors

  McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

  Jefferson, North Carolina, and London

  Also of Interest and from Mcfarland

  Power and Control in the Television Worlds of Joss Whedon (2012), by Sherry Ginn

  The Sex Is Out of This World: Essays on the Carnal Side of Science Fiction (2012), edited by Sherry Ginn and Michael G. Cornelius

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

  BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

  e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-0627-9

  © 2013 Sherry Ginn. All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  On the cover: Ben Browder as John Crichton and Claudia Black as Aeryn Sun in Farscape (SCI FI Channel/Photofest); background images Hemera/Thinkstock and iStockphoto/Thinkstock

  McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

  Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640

  www.mcfarlandpub.com

  This one is also for Larry

  with all of my love

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction: Through the Wormhole and What Crichton Found There

  Sherry Ginn

  Farscape, the Impossible and the Accident

  J. P. Telotte

  War and Peace by Woody Allen or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Wormhole Weapon

  Ensley F. Guffey

  Into the Uncharted Territories: Exploring the Nature of Evil

  Robert L. Lively

  The Emperor’s New Farts: Socioeconomic Disenfranchisement and “Colonic Miasma”

  Michael G. Cornelius

  ’Scaping the Mythic Triad into Uncharted Territories: Hero, Antihero and Villain

  Billie Jo Mason

  Friends, Enemies, Partners, Mates: Examining Relationships in the Uncharted Territories

  Sherry Ginn

  Joining the Conversation: Ben Browder Writes John Crichton

  Jessie Carty

  Friend ... Enemy ... Alien ... Ally: Female Community Aboard Moya

  Sherry Ginn

  Sentient Space: Moya as Homeplace

  Michael G. Cornelius

  Of Big Blue Butts and Bias: The Problem Body

  Elizabeth Leigh Scherman

  The Ballad of John and Aeryn

  Sherry Ginn

  “Winona has been very reliable”: Female Genderi
ng of Weapons in Fiction and Fact

  Ensley F. Guffey

  A Legendary Tale: Scapers and the Myth of Fan Power

  Tanya R. Cochran

  Primal Scream—With Accompaniment

  Jessie Carty

  Appendix A: Farscape Character List

  Appendix B: Series Episode List

  Appendix C: Farscape Bibliography and Filmography

  About the Contributors

  List of Names and Terms

  Acknowledgments

  I fell in love with Farscape from episode one, despite the atrocious theme song (thank heavens for a mute button). I know I presented a paper on the women of the series in 2002 (I can find that one still on my computer), but there were others prior to that time. An entire chapter (as well as parts of another) in my first book was devoted to Farscape. And I remember someone at a Popular Culture Association conference, or perhaps it was a PCA-South conference, telling me that she knew I would be talking about Farscape, which is why she had come to my presentation (she was right, I did). The idea of writing a book devoted to Farscape or editing a collection of essays on the series is something I thought about for quite some time and now it is finally happening, although I note that the publication of this book will coincide with the 10th anniversary of its last season (2003).

  Despite its popularity among its core fan base and the myriad awards received by the cast and crew, Farscape was never able to realize the numbers needed to keep such an expensive program on air. Re-watching the series during the summer of 2012 brings the excitement and, I must admit, exasperation back. Taking notes on each episode of each season gave me dozens of ideas for more in-depth analysis. I am astounded at the lack of critical analysis of this series with its rich tapestry of characters who, although “alien,” act all too human, serving as a lens through which to view the human condition. Is that not what the best science fiction does?

  My thanks to everyone who submitted a proposal and who then prepared their essays for this collection. I also thank all of those people who discussed Farscape with me for the last dozen years or so as well as those who discussed the project with me over the course of the last couple of years. Special thanks to Donald E. Palumbo for being enthusiastic about a Farscape collection, even though the series has been off the air since 2003 (at least for first-run episodes). I also would like to extend warm thanks to Tanya R. Cochran, Michael G. Cornelius, and Jessie Carty for editorial help with various essays in the book. Unlike Noranti, I do not have a third eye and the sharp eyes of those three really helped me when I was second-guessing myself.

  Rockne S. O’Bannon, David Kemper, and Brian Henson have tried to keep Farscape alive via the graphic novels, and I hope that they will be able to continue that endeavor (although the news is not good at this point in time). The cast and crew of Farscape were phenomenal and I continue to look out for projects in which Ben Browder (he is from my hometown, you know, and I keep searching my memory to determine if we’ve ever met) and the others engage. I have a conference in Australia in 2013 and am looking forward to visiting all of the locations used in filming the series while there.

  This book is dedicated once again to my husband and partner, Larry Williamson. Words cannot express how I feel about this man or how grateful I am for all of his support. As I have said before, thanks for being my rock, for always being there. And thanks for not being too jealous of Crichton.

  Introduction

  Through the Wormhole and What Crichton Found There

  Sherry Ginn

  TV Guide called Farscape the best science fiction show (then) on the air and ranked it #4 on its list of “The 30 Top Cult Shows Ever.” During its four-year run, it won three Saturn awards for “Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series” (in 2001, 2002, and 2003). Nominated four times for “Best Actor in a Television Series,” Ben Browder (John Crichton) won the award in 2002, and its male and female actors garnered numerous “best” nominations during the series run. Produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape combined human actors with puppets and spectacular visual effects in a storyline that combined action-adventure and romance and broke many of the so-called conventional rules of science fiction. This action-adventure-romance combination ensured that it would find both male and female fan support. Unlike the majority of science fiction programming, which is filmed in Hollywood, British Columbia, or the United Kingdom, Farscape was filmed in Australia. The two stars of the series, Ben Browder and Claudia Black, were American and Australian, respectively; and, the majority of the cast members were Australian or New Zealander as was much of the crew. By the end of the series, seven of the major characters were female—eight if you count the ship—and the majority of the production crew was also female (Kemper). The series aired in the U.S. on the Sci Fi Channel (now Syfy) from 1999 to 2003. The channel’s decision to cancel the series at the end of its fourth season sent shock waves throughout the kingdom of Scapers, as fans are known. That intense campaign has achieved almost mythic status and is generally believed to have “forced” executives at the network to order a made-for-television miniseries entitled Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars which premiered October 2004 (see Cochran, this collection).

  Farscape broke many of the conventions of series television, such as filming on location in Australia using Australian actors and crew. Unknown in America many of these actors were very well known in Australia and New Zealand and cast and crew members reported their immense delight at the quality of the people who guest-starred on the series as well as those who wrote or directed episodes.1 Aliens on the series were presented as just that—alien. However, as Booker points out, Farscape is very much like Stargate SG1 as

  the discovery of the Stargate [and, on Farscape, the wormhole] allows contemporary humans (rather than humans of some distant future) to interact with advanced technology, making it easier for audiences to identify with the protagonists of the series. In addition, the fact that the characters ... come from the same cultural background as the audience facilitates the allusiveness of the series, which constantly refers to other works of 20th–century popular culture [178].

  Indeed, the character John Crichton maintains a steady stream of pop culture references, which serve to link him to the home to which he desperately wishes to return, but which also serve to distinguish him from the beings that he now confronts on a daily basis. John Crichton is, after all, meant to serve as “us”—the audience. That is, Crichton serves as the window through which we observe the wonders and dangers of the universe beyond Earth and even on Earth as well. Ben Browder comments that Crichton is the proxy for the audience. According to Browder, Crichton “is actually a sci-fi geek. He is that generation that watched Star Trek and then wanted to be an astronaut.”2 However, as Jes Battis has noted, Crichton cannot be considered as representative of the audience. The audience is not white, male, middle-class, highly-educated, able-bodied, and heterosexual (Investigating 24–25).

  Crichton is Alien to the beings that inhabit the section of the universe in which he is marooned; however, I contend that the other members of Moya’s crew can also be considered alien (Ginn “Exploring”). Crichton’s “humanness” and his penchant for spouting pop culture references make him stand out as alien; his crewmates aboard Moya are alien by virtue of the characteristics of their species as well as their actions prior to the events occurring on Farscape. For example, Zhaan is an anarchist and a murderer, whereas her species is spiritual and peaceful. D’Argo was accused of murdering his wife, and if he was not guilty of that offense, he was guilty to styling himself “Ka” or general in the Luxan army. Rygel is a deposed emperor, and his disgusting personal habits as well as his repulsive personality make one wonder if perhaps his subjects are not better off now that he is no longer on the throne. Farscape’s producers were determined that these species be as “alien” as possible and used various means for depicting those differences, not simply relying upon make-up or prosthetics. Given that the Jim Henson Co
mpany, famously known as the creators of the Muppets, helped produce Farscape, their contribution to the series was the creation of two of its major characters, Dominar Rygel XVI and Pilot, as well as myriad other characters over the series’ four-year run. Jan Johnson-Smith speculates that the use of

  animatronics/Muppets in a central role suggests a youngish audience for the series, but the frequent and blatant sexuality of its often-complex physics and grim narrative and a tendency to bondage/torture scenes suggests otherwise [161].

  I contend that the “animatronics/Muppets” are a bridge to people who grew up watching Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and are aware of the production values of The Henson Company. But these people are now adults and the other aspects of the series mentioned by Johnson-Smith attract adult viewers. I would also argue that the series is not nearly as sexual as one might think (see my essay on relationships, this collection).

  Production values on the series were so high that it was never apparent that these creatures were not humans in monster suits or CGI. Farscape’s aliens also deviated from the standard set by Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek fame, who had insisted all of his aliens be humanoid. Indeed, Executive Producer Brian Henson wanted a show that was primal and emotional, something that would provide a vision opposite to Star Trek.3 Henson knew that he wanted something different, high-brow and literary, something special,4 and several of the alien species encountered in Farscape were decidedly not humanoid (for example, the Scarrans and the Hynerians). The series was also very “female-friendly” with a large number of women both on and behind the screen (Kemper). Female characters of whatever species could engage in roles that were traditionally masculine, traditionally feminine, or neither (Battis “Farscape”; Ginn Our Space; Jowett). They could hold positions of power and authority in their worlds and frequently did. They could also be evil and dangerous and often were. And they were freely sexual.